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Are You Leaving Customers Hanging on Facebook?

Why Your Facebook Response Rate Is Critical

Looking for fresh, new ways to make your customers dissatisfied? Then start ignoring their complaints and messages on social media!

Oh, wait… you want your customers to like you? Well, then you better see how many of them have important questions and concerns left unanswered on Facebook!

Social media customer support is the new reality we live in. Over two-thirds of people have used social media to try and find a resolution to customer issues. When voicing a complaint or a problem, 60% of customers expect to get a response in an hour or less⏳ . If a brand completely ignores their complaint, 35% say they will stop buying from the brand altogether, and 31% will share negative sentiment online.

Most importantly, just 40% of people who get ignored will try and resolve their issue on another channel. 🤪 That’s because 1 in 3 people would prefer to handle their issues online via social compared to other options like phone support or email.

All of these factors make your response rate to Facebook complaints absolutely critical for customer sentiment and your bottom line. Recognizing this, Facebook even rates your company as “Very responsive to messages,” 🗸 highlighting this fact with a prominent badge on Business Pages. Pages receiving the highest Facebook response rating get a halo effect and enjoy better relationships with their customers. ✨

In that light, here are the four most important things you need to know about Facebook response rate and how it affects your business:

Facebook Has Strict Rules for How to Get a “Very Responsive to Messages” Badge

The first thing you need to know is that, before you even get a customer support Facebook message, your customers may already get positive or negative impressions for how the interaction might go.

That’s because your page will have badges for how responsive to messages you are. If you are “very responsive,” you get a green badge that looks welcoming, encouraging people to reach out. If you have a bad reputation for responsiveness, someone may be prepared for a less-than-satisfactory experience, setting the conversation tone and their mood. 👎

That’s tough! But setting up proper alerts and having a messenger strategy in place can help.

Responding Poorly Is Worse Than Not Responding at All

Remember how we said that 35% of people boycott brands that ignore their social complaints? Well, it gets worse if you react poorly. 🆘

When people have a negative experience after a social complaint, half say they will stop buying from the brand. 42% will complain about the experience in person to friends, 26% will un-Like the brand’s Page, and 41% will broadcast their issues to social followers. Just 13% say they tend to “forget about it”, meaning most hold a grudge. 😬

So, to prevent ticking people off, follow a few general customer service rules:

👂Listen. Even if you don’t believe a word they say, you should be able to repeat it almost verbatim. Make sure you know exactly what their issue is. Ask questions to ensure you got everything clear. Every complaint teaches you something.

💣DON’T argue about circumstances. “He said, she said,” is not a fun game for anyone. If you have evidence that the customer’s narrative is flawed, don’t mention it just to prove them wrong. Only bring it up if it’s a way to show your company cares about preventing issues, or to show you’re proactive in resolving them. And still say “...but we’re still very sorry and wish things had been different…”

🕊️Always say “I’m sorry that you had a bad experience” regardless of the context. It doesn’t matter if you wish the customer acted differently. You can only control your own actions. Acknowledge the issue they have, apologize for it, and move past it towards a resolution.

🤝Offer ways to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Give the customer clear expectations of when they will be contacted next and when they can expect their issue to be fixed. If the window for true resolution is past, you will probably have to offer some sort of coupon, discount, or freebie to change their feelings on the experience.

Angry Customers Can Turn Into Your Best Customers

A crazy thing can happen when a raging customer has a satisfactory resolution: they do a complete 180° and end up loving your brand.

Customers tend to spend 20% to 40% more with brands that respond well to them over social media. 71% of people are also likely to recommend the brand to others afterwards, making them better customers and earning you customers in the process. 🏅

So, consider each upset customer on Facebook as an exciting opportunity rather than something to dread. Monitor for complaints, keep an eye on your messages, and practice stellar customer service to turn each incident into a blowaway positive experience. 🌠

Get Help Improving Your Facebook Response Rate With Social Media Management Services

Most businesses don’t have a bad Facebook response rate because they don’t care about customers; it’s because they don’t have enough time or enough people to handle every message! 😵

Let BiQi Marketing help you improve your response rate, your reputation, and your relationships with customers by leaving your community management to us. Take a look at what we can do for you when you explore our Facebook community management services today.